The Seal Beach City Council on Monday, March 10, voted unanimously to add cigarette shops to the list of businesses that require a conditional use permit.
This was the scheduled second reading, or adoption, of the ordinance. It was a Consent Calendar item and was not discussed.
The council introduced the ordinance applying the CUP requirement to smoke shops on Feb. 24.
The council had previously passed an ordinance amending the city code to regulate the sale of tobacco products and so-called electronic cigarettes on Feb. 10.
That ordinance defined cigarette shops, created rules for selling tobacco and smoking-related products and prohibited selling drug paraphernalia. Smoking would not be permitted on the site of permitted businesses.
Essentially, e-cigarettes—devices resembling pens that allow the user to smoke liquids that may or may not contain nicotine—will now be treated just like cigarettes under the Seal Beach Municipal Code. The shops will be allowed, provided they have CUPs.
But a zoning text amendment was required to add cigarette shops to the list of businesses that require CUPs. To get that zone text amendment, the Planning Commission had to hold a public hearing and make a recommendation to the City Council before the issue could come before the City Council.
Passage of the ordinance essentially ends the saga of cigarette shops in Seal Beach.
In September 2013, the council extended an urgency ordinance that banned shops that specialize in selling e-cigarettes for 10 months and 15 days, ending in August of 2014.
City staff had requested time to research the possible regulations for e-cigarettes and expressed concerns that e-cigarettes could be converted into drug paraphernalia.
The ordinance did not stop the sale of electronic cigarettes in Seal Beach—they were legally available at convenience and liquor stores throughout the city. The ordinance did prevent the opening of an e-cigarette shop in the Regency Center, home of Pavilions, on Pacific Coast Highway.
On Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, council members gave staff directions on what they wanted in regulations for such shops.
